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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

CWW: NCAA rules

Well, there have been some new rules passed down and I thought I would do a brief commentary on a few so that you might better be able to understand the differences a D1 coach vs. a D3 coach deal with under the same rules.

Rule 1:
Jersey numbers now have to be a certain size and need to be solid colored. Reason: it's hard for the numbers to be seen on TV. This rule takes effect in 1 year.

Outfitting a football team with jersey tops can easily cost about $5,000 with bare minimum design. Fiscal budgets are set the November before they begin, which is in July. This means, a rule passed in March has not been worked into the budget for this coming season.

For a D1 school this really doesn't mean much. There are likely a booster or 2 who could easily cover this bill. OR, perhaps a quick withdraw from the booster fund. Additionally, it is likely a company such as Nike may give a deep discount on the jerseys knowing that this jersey on TV will boost sales in stores.

For a D3 school this means the difference between purchasing the 1 big ticket item that they have been saving up for, and spending it on Jerseys. Even if new Jerseys were purchased 2 years ago with the plan to last 10, it doesn't matter. $5000 on the D3 level means 1 less position coach. Oh yeah, and D3 games aren't played on national TV.

Rule 2:
Texting is now allowed. I'll be honest this rule may not make much difference between D1 and D3, but here is one perspective.

D1 coaches have cell phones paid for my their universities.

D3 coaches may not have anything even reimbursed. A coach trying to save money may opt to have a limited texting package. Not anymore! Just to keep up, they need to add unlimited texting.

Rule 3:
A new, very strict punishment for tackling. I've included a link on this one because frankly, the rule is very complicated. The punishment for the tackle, ejection from the game and possibly the 1st half of the following game.

Here's my comment on it.

D1, a ref calls a bad tackle, the coach can review the play on the film immediately and it can be determined definitively whether or not the tackle was actually illegal.

D3, oh well! Sorry kid, refs word goes.

***This is not to say that safe tackling shouldn't be emphasized, but the punishment needs to fit the crime. This is especially true when human error is possible.

*****This commentary is not meant to be a complaint, simply a visual on the differences on how a D3 coach may need to deal with a certain rule. It would be great if different levels were taken into consideration individually.

1 comment:

I totally agree - some of these changes really emphasize the blatant bias in the NCAA toward Division 1 teams, although most of the teams playing sports in the NCAA are not Division 1. They should definitely have certain rules that only apply to D1 (e.g. football jersey colors).

On the other hand, I think that some of the safety rules should be universally applied, but perhaps have different ways of "confirming" the penalty - e.g. the D3 coach has an opportunity to review footage of the contested play after the game and protest the suspension.